NYPA taps analytics to monitor transmission asset health

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Marking another step forward in its efforts to become an all-digital utility, the New York Power Authority on July 9 said that it is implementing a critical asset performance management (APM) initiative that uses predictive analytics to monitor transmission asset health.

“This cutting‑edge capability not only means increased reliability for NYPA’s customers, but also marks a significant step in NYPA’s effort, under Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s leadership, to become a fully digital utility,” NYPA said in a news release.

“Monitoring transmission asset health and risk is paramount to our asset management strategy and allows us to optimize existing infrastructure with significant cost avoidance,” said Gil Quiniones, NYPA CEO and President. “Our recent implementation of this software on generation assets has already saved up to $3 million in emergent maintenance costs. This helps make our power generation and transmission assets smarter and more resilient, reducing the risk of potential future outages.”

NYPA said that Grid APM tracks the overall health of transmission assets over time and becomes increasingly more accurate as more data is collected. Integrating the digitized asset management approach into generation and now transmission assets allows NYPA to monitor assets comprehensively and make informed decisions when planning maintenance activities or allocating grid modernization investments, the Authority said.

The data will feed into NYPA’s Integrated Smart Operations Center, a digitized power asset monitoring and diagnostic center at NYPA’s headquarters in White Plains, N.Y., and transmit critical insights to key operations individuals.

NYPA said that in the future, the aggregated data and predictive analytics from both generation and transmission asset performance management platforms will combine to create a unified asset performance management solution, which will allow the Authority to leverage a full suite of long‑term and near real‑time data for assets across all facilities.

NYPA owns and operates approximately one-third of New York’s high-voltage power lines, which form the backbone of the state’s power grid. The lines transmit power from NYPA’s three large hydroelectric generation facilities and wind power generation facilities, connecting nearly 7,000 megawatts of renewable energy into New York State’s power grid.

NYPA noted that this includes connecting more than 6,200 MW of hydroelectric power and about 700 MW or more than a third of New York State-generated wind energy to the grid.

“Today, as we speak, we are analyzing on a real-time basis 26,000 points from sensors and meters to assess the health” of NYPA’s generation fleet and “operate them as efficiently and effectively as possible,” he said at Greentech Media’s Grid Innovation Summit, which took place on June 20-21 in San Francisco, Calif.